HARRISBURG, Pa., Nov. 20 — One former prosecutor said he never investigated the murder of a black preacher’s daughter during the 1969 race riots because he was unaware of the case. Two others said they knew about the killing but didn’t have the resources to pursue it. All three testified Monday at a hearing to determine why it took 32 years for prosecutors to file charges in the murder of 27-year-old Lillie Belle Allen.

EIGHT MEN have been charged with shooting at Allen during 10 days of rioting that began after a white man shot and wounded a black youth. Prosecutors say a ninth man, outgoing York Mayor Charlie Robertson, who was a city police officer during the riots, handed out bullets and encouraged whites to kill blacks hours before Allen was slain.
The nine defendants, all of them white, have pleaded innocent.
The defense lawyers argue that the three-decade delay hurt their clients’ chances of getting a fair trial because evidence is missing, some witnesses are dead, and memories have faded.
Allen and her family were on the way to buy groceries when her sister drove down a street crowded with white men. Allen’s sister panicked and tried to turn the car around. When Allen stepped out to take over the driving, she was killed by a shotgun blast.

UNAWARE OF KILLING
“It’s not that we weren’t concerned about it. We didn’t know about it,” said Donald Reihart, who was York district attorney from 1974 to 1979. “The case was not brought to my attention by the police or a private citizen or by anybody.”
Harold Fitzkee, a York County district attorney who took office in 1970, said the office only had four part-time assistant district attorneys and one detective at the time. He said he didn’t remember receiving any files about the killing from his predecessor, who is now deceased.
In an unusual twist, the judge who is likely to preside over the trial of the men charged in the murder also testified Monday. York Common Pleas Judge John C. Uhler served as York district attorney after the riot killings, and defense attorneys wanted to know why his office never did anything with the case.
“It wasn’t within any kind of framework of attention,” said Uhler, who was district attorney from 1978 to 1982. Uhler, who recused himself from the hearings this week, said that he had a small staff of assistant prosecutors who were busy with fresh cases.
Two former city police detectives who testified Monday said the Allen case had been investigated by the Pennsylvania State Police in 1969 and no charges were brought.
Former York Police Detective Sgt. Thomas Chatman, who assisted the state police in their investigation, said the names of some suspects were known, but detectives could not obtain the physical evidence or sworn statements needed to file charges.
“People told us things that they would not testify to,” Chatman said. “They told you confidentially and that was it.” Chatman now works on Uhler’s staff.
Allen’s death came three days after a white police officer, Henry Schaad, was fatally shot during the disturbances. As part of the same investigation, two black men were charged with his killing.
The two cases were cold until recently, when both of the city’s daily newspapers wrote about the 30th anniversary of the slayings. About 40 percent of York’s 41,000 residents are minorities.
District Attorney H. Stanley Rebert said he began re-examining the shootings last year. The suicide of a former member of a white street gang fueled interest in solving the old slayings, Rebert said.
This month, City Controller John Brenner was elected to succeed Robertson, who dropped his bid for re-election after he was charged. Brenner will take office in January.
The hearing was to resume Tuesday.